Guardian
by Avatardragontrainer
Summary: Max's Father (Xaioshin) hires a Mountain Lion fighter named Shanshi to kidnap Max from the Bushido-Akios' but gets a little more than he expected when Shanshi double crosses him and rescues Max from Xaioshin. For AniUniverse2005 I hope you enjoy.
1. For Hire

Guardian

I do not own Kung Fu Panda; if I did I wouldn't be doing this

Max and the Bushido-Akio's belong to AU2005

* * *

For hire

(Shanshi means Mountain Lion in Chinese…I think)

Shanshi or Shan stood up from his defeated opponent a gorilla at least twice his size and let out victory cry throwing his arms up. He was the number three fighter in Southern China, he was skilled enough to make it to first or second but liked where he was right now and there was no one who could or would challenge him.

Being a Mountain Lion didn't hurt either, his distinctive roar scared off a good amount of challengers on its own.

Shan left the ring and went back over his girlfriend Siena who had been watching from the sidelines as he fought.

Siena was a Tiger but Shan wasn't totally sure what species she was exactly.

Shan took his shirt from Siena and headed to the changing room making a mental note to ask her what species tiger she was one of these days.

He changed quickly and rejoined Siena outside the ring and they left the building and headed home.

"You did really good today." Siena commented as they walked. "I thought that Gorilla had you a couple times."

"So did I actually." Shan replied.

"I'll meet you back at the apartment okay?" he said "I've got an errand I need to do quickly."

"Okay, but don't be late alright." Siena said giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Shan ran off, it was their one year anniversary, he wanted to buy her something; the problem was he didn't have a ton of money, he may be a good fighter but that didn't necessarily translate into cash.

He went from shop to shop growing more and more disappointed until he decided to head home, as he walked a white tiger stepped out of an alleyway in front of him.

Shan automatically went into a relaxed fighting stance, the tiger chuckled.

"Something funny?" Shan demanded not changing his stance.

"I have a proposition for you, I need you're fighting skills." Xaioshin said.

Backroom deals like this weren't uncommon in south china but this was the first Shan had been approached with one.

"What do you want?" Shan asked relaxing a little.

"My son Maximus was kidnapped and I want you to find him and bring him to me." Xaioshin said.

"Why not just ask the Jade Palace or someone?" Shan asked.

"Don't worry about that." Xaioshin said tossing a sack of money at Shan's feet. "That's 5000 Yuan; I'll give you another five when you bring me Maximus."

That totaled to an amount of 10,000 Yuan!

Shan looked at the sack of money at his feet, it was incredibly tempting and money was a bit short right now.

He reached down and picked up the sack.

"I'll do it." Shan said and Xaioshin smiled "I thought you might." He said. "Maximus is in the Valley of Peach with the Bushido-Akios." He added then disappeared.

Shan returned to the apartment and was nearly tackled to the floor by Siena.

"Where have you been, I've been worried sick!" she said.

"Uh…nowhere." Shan lied. "I got us some money though." He added showing her the money.

"Shan…? Where did you get this much money?" she asked eyeing the money suspiciously.

"I….took a job, it was a down payment, I'll get rest upon delivery." Shan said standing up.

"What kind of job exactly?" Siena questioned.

"Nothing dangerous, I just gotta find this kid named Maximus and bring him to his father." Shan said.

"Well okay, as long as it isn't dangerous." Siena said.

"This coming from the female champion." Shan said and she smacked him on the shoulder…hard.

"Ow…" Shan said rubbing his shoulder. "I'll get buy us some supplies, we'll leave tomorrow." He said.

* * *

Kind of a shortish chapter for me but whatever.

It's worth mentioning Shanshi has no clue who Xaioshin is or what he plans to with Max, what do you think?

Have Max or the Bushido-Akio's weight in


	2. Abduction

Abduction

I do not own Kung Fu Panda

* * *

**Two or three days later**

Shan and Siena walked into the village Shan had been scouting it out for the last few days before they entered.

He discovered why Xaioshin had hired him the Village and surrounding Valley was protected by the Kung Fu Warriors of the Jade Palace, kidnapping Max would be difficult at best.

"According to our 'client' Max is being held at the Bushido-Akio's." Shan said to Siena.

"There's usually a wolf with him." He added. "So grabbing him in broad daylight would be a bad idea, the next option is to grab him at home, at night when he's asleep." Shan said.

"But again it's risky." Shan said. "So I don't know."

Siena nodded in agreement

They spent the rest of the day walking around the Village and Shan decided he could live here it was peaceful.

He and Siena split up and he decided to go to the noodle shop to get something to eat.

He walked in and sat down at a table, across the restaurant he saw two white tigers' and recognized them as Dai Nakamura and Kiro Takimuro warriors of the Jade Palace and suddenly got really nervous.

"I'll just have some dumplings." Shan said to Mr. Ping when he asked what he wanted.

About half way through his meal Kiro came over.

"You're new to the Valley?" Kiro asked.

"How could you tell?" Shan asked.

"Everyone who lives here orders the noodles." Kiro said

"My friend and I are just passing through." Shan said.

"Where are you heading?" Dai asked also walking over.

"I'm not sure just yet." Shan answered.

"Where are you from?" Dai asked.

"Southern China, I was a fighter." Shan said growing slightly irritated by all the questions.

Both Dai and Kiro found Shan's behavior a bit strange but not enough to start asking him more questions and left him alone.

That night dressed in dark but not black clothing Shan snuck up to the House Max was being held in, He'd left Siena behind for back up, if anything went wrong he'd roar and she'd come running.

Shan snuck through the house already growing suspicious of Xaioshin's kidnapping claim. But he shook the thought from his head when a wolf appeared, he ducked into a room.

For a moment he thought he'd been spotted but the wolf walked off and Shan let out a sigh a relief and came to a door with Max's name on it and pushed it open.

He saw Max lying on the bed, facing away from him.

Shan pulled out a rag covered in chloroform and placed it over Max's face the cub struggled for a moment but passed out quickly.

Shan smiled to himself and threw the cub over his shoulder.

"Put. Him. Down." a voice said from behind him making Shan flinch and turn around to see the wolf standing behind him looking very angry.

"Put my brother down." He said again growling.

Shan growled back and set Max on the bed and faced the wolf.

"Walk away Wolf." Shan said taking a fighting stance.

Arizona growled and lunged at Shan but he underestimated him; Shan spin kicked Arizona in the head knocking him into the wall, into a shelf knocking it down with a loud crash. Shan winced at the noise and jumped out the window with Max, by the time Arizona got to the window Shan was gone.

Shan sprinted to Siena who was nearby. "Did anyone follow me?" he asked running into camp.

"I don't think so…why?" Siena asked.

"That wolf interrupted me." Shan said looking back. "I was sure he'd follow me, but maybe not."

"Come on, the sooner we get out of this Valley the better." Shan said adjusting Max's position on his shoulder.

**With Arizona**

Arizona growled in frustration.

"You sure you didn't get a good look at the kidnapper?" Mako asked.

"I don't know." Arizona said holding his head. "He looked like a cat of some kind, he was wearing dark clothing, he didn't leave a note or anything he just showed up and took Max." Arizona said.

That made Mako fearful for Max and made him think it might have been one of Max's birth parents.

"I'll alert the Jade Palace, they'll find him." He said.

"No, this is something I want to do myself." Arizona said. "I'm gonna tear this kidnapper apart."  
He growled.

**Back with Shan and Siena**

Max shifted and woke up to find his hands and feet tied and a gag in his mouth. He looked around and saw an orange and black tigress sitting nearby and let out a muffled cry and tried to back away but only fell over.

The tigress saw this and walked over to him unsure of her intentions Max let out another muffled cry and tried to back away from her tears forming in his eyes.

"I'm not going to hurt you, my name is Siena." Siena said and Max calmed down a little as she pulled the gag off.

"Take me home please." Max said.

"Sorry kid." Shan said stepping into the firelight.

"Xaioshin is paying us a huge amount to bring you back to him." Shan said.

"My…Dad…No! You can't!" Max said fearfully. "He'll….."

"What's wrong?" Siena asked.

"I…I can't." Max said looking down.

"It's okay you don't have to tell us." Siena said.

"No, he doesn't." Shan said putting the gag back and Siena glared at him.

"What? How do we know this kid isn't lying to get away?" Shan said and Max mumbled something behind the gag.

"It doesn't matter anyway in two days he'll be Xaioshin's problem not ours." Shan said, at the mention of Xaioshin Max let out a sob.

That night Shan had his first doubts about taking Max to Xaioshin, he seemed genuinely afraid of him. What could have happened to Max to make him that afraid? He wondered.

Shan shook the thought from his head and rolled over, he saw Max shivering against the tree and sighed picking up a spare blanket and put over the cub.

"I saw that." Siena said when he came back.

"You're having second thoughts aren't you?" She asked. "Something about Xaioshin bothers you."

"What? No." Shan said. "Okay, maybe a little." He said a moment later.

"Then take him back." Siena said.

"No, I want to hear Max's story first." Shan said.

* * *

That's it for that chapter stay tuned for the next one, that's not the last time Shan will fight Arizona either.

You didn't really think I was going to leave Dai out did you?


	3. Making a choice

Making a choice

I do not own Kung Fu Panda at all what so ever.

As Shanshi and Siena listened to Max's story Shan's first reaction was anger, then sorrow when Max finally finished Shan let out a low growl.

"I can't believe anyone would do that to a cub especially their parents." He said. "I'm so sorry Max, I had no idea."

"It's okay." Max said.

*That night*

"You can't seriously still be considering turning Max over to that….monster especially after what Max just told us, just for some money!" Siena said quietly so she wouldn't wake Max.

"I…I don't know." Shan said. "I'm gonna go for a walk, I'll be back by morning." Shan said standing up and leaving.

Shan walked a good distance from the camp and let out a frustrated roar. He had no clue what to do. He had no intention of giving Max to Xaioshin but he needed the money. There were other ways to get money he supposed.

But still 10,000 Yuan! It was a lot but that wouldn't stop his conscience from telling him it was wrong.

"I hope you're not thinking about going back on our deal." Xaioshin said stepping to view.

"Well…I was just thinking that maybe…" Shan was cut off by Xaioshin pinning him to a tree.

"_Do not_ renege on our deal." Xaioshin said threatened holding a dagger to Shan's neck.

"You will bring me Maximus or I'll kill your girlfriend, Max and then you understand?" Xaioshin said.

"Yes." Shan said lowering his head.

"_I'm sorry Max." _He thought. _"I don't have a choice."_

*Morning*

Shan returned to the camp having made his choice and found Siena eating breakfast with Max.

"What are you doing?" he asked walking towards them.

"Having breakfast with Max." Siena said. "He's just so cute!" she said ruffling his hair making him laugh.

"So did you decide what to do?" Siena asked.

"Yes…." Shan said and Xaioshin stepped into the camp.

"This is the choice you've made, I can't believe you!" Siena said pulling Max towards her.

"I'm sorry! I didn't have a choice! He said he'd kill us if I didn't do what he said!" Shan exclaimed.

He went over and pried Max away from Siena ignoring his cries of protests and pushed him towards Xaioshin.

"Don't worry, I'll get you back." He whispered quietly to Max

"I'm glad we could reach an agreement." Xaioshin said tossing Shan the money and then disappeared with Max.

"How could you just let him take Max like that? And after what he told us what Xaioshin did to him?" Siena said.

"Siena calm down." Shan said.

"How can I be calm?! You just handed Max over to that monster." Siena said hitting Shan on the chest. "Who knows what he'll do to him, we have to get him back before…."

"Siena, I'm going to get him back." Shan said interrupting Siena. Not knowing what it was going to cost him in the end. "But Xaioshin needs to think he's won first." Shan said.

*With Max*

"Let me go!" Max yelled struggling against Xaioshin's grip.

"Shut up!" Xaioshin yelled hitting Max across the face making blood come out of him.

"You've been nothing a pain ever since you were born!" he shouted shoving Max to the ground, into the dirt.

"After tonight I won't have to deal with you anymore." Xaioshin said.

Max whimpered silently making Xaioshin even more angry.

"Stop being so weak!" he shouted kicking Max in the ribs making tears run down his face.

"You're a pathetic, worthless, useless waste of fur and I wish you'd never been born!" Xaioshin yelled as he kicked Max.

"Luckily that's not a choice I have to live with." He said and picked Max up by the neck and started to squeeze.

"I'm going to watch the life leave your eyes." He said as Max gasped for air.

*With Shan and Siena*

Shan reached Xaioshin and Max in time to see Xaioshin pick Max up by the neck and even from here He could tell Max was having trouble breathing.

Shan roared and leaped out of the darkness, Xaioshin dodged out of the way at the last second and Shan hit the ground, slid and rushed back at Xaioshin and when he tried to dodge Shan clawed his side.

"Let Max go." He said taking a fighting stance.

"You dare double cross me!" Xaioshin said.

"I dare because when something's wrong it's wrong!" Shan said back. "You can have your blood money back." Shan said tossing the bag at Xaioshin. (Shan actually took a bit out first)

"You'll wish you hadn't betrayed me." Xaioshin said dropping Max and drawing a sword.

Shan swallowed when he saw the sword he couldn't fight against a sword he was mostly a Kung Fu fighter.

Xaioshin swung at Shan with the sword and he dodged left and right making him miss his target, all he had to do was keep Xaioshin busy long enough for Siena to grab Max.

Easy enough right?

He kicked at Xaioshin making him go on the defensive. Xaioshin sliced at Shan cutting his upper arm, it hurt Shan yelled and stumbled back falling over.

Xaioshin advanced on Shan to finish him off, from the ground Shan saw Siena pick Max up and run off. Something must have registered on his face because Xaioshin spun around and ran after her.

Shan got up and chased after him holding his bleeding arm.

He caught up to and tackled Xaioshin to the ground.

"Keep going!" he yelled to Siena as he wrestled with Xaioshin.

He put Xaioshin in a head lock but he elbowed Shan in the face making him let go and back off a little.

Xaioshin kicked him in the head and Shan's world went black.

A tiger roar woke him up and he ran in that direction.

What he saw made him freeze in place.

*With Siena and Max a few minutes earlier*

Siena ran as fast as she could while carrying Max trying to lose Xaioshin.

"Behind you!" Max yelled, Siena spun around and Xaioshin crashed into them making her lose her grip on Max and fall to the ground.

Siena kicked Xaioshin off her and rolled over trying to reach Max but Xaioshin grabbed her tail and pulled her back.

He pinned her under him and growled suggestively placing his hand on her stomach.

Siena hit Xaioshin on the head making him let go, she scrambled to her feet.

Xaioshin sliced at Siena with his sword cut her abdomen and arm, she fell to the ground. Xaioshin advanced on her and pulled her up by the fur on her head.

"Once I'm done with you I'm gonna kill your boyfriend." He said.

Shan reached a small clearing in the trees and his breath caught in his chest. He saw Siena on her knees badly injured by Xaioshin, Max on the ground nearby, unconscious.

He saw Xaioshin stab her with his sword and Siena's body tip over.

"No!" Shan yelled running forward.

He burst into the clearing and attacked Xaioshin, kicking and punching at the white tiger.

"I'm gonna kill you!" he roared knocking Xaioshin's sword out of his hand, Xaioshin punched the side of his face, Shan roared loudly in his face.

Shan threw Xaioshin to the ground where he pulled a knife and sliced Shan's leg deeply. Shan yelled out and Xaioshin kicked the wound making him fall over where Xaioshin pinned him to the ground.

"After I'm done with you I'm gonna enjoy killing Max slowly." Xaioshin said getting ready to stab Shan but he caught Xaioshin's fist in his hand.

"Not…today…." Shan strained, flipping Xaioshin off him and standing up. Shanshi ran up to Max and picked him up and continued running.

Xaioshin picked up the knife and threw it at Shan.

"Look out!" Max yelled.

HA! Cliffhanger!

What's gonna happen next? Will Shan be able to keep Max safe?

Stay tuned.


	4. Saving Maximus

Saving Maximus

I do not own Kung Fu Panda

"Look out!" Max yelled, Shan turned and the knife slammed into his shoulder blade, Shan groaned but kept his hold on Max.

Shanshi ran into a clearing and looked around for place to hide Max and hid him behind a large log saying.

"Stay here and whatever happens do not move." He said then turned back around in time to see Xaioshin enter the clearing his sword still stained with Siena's blood.

Max stayed hidden behind the log and covered his ears from the sound of fighting, finally they stopped and Max peaked over the log and saw Shan on the ground and Xaioshin standing over him.

Xaioshin looked in his direction and walked over to the log and reached over.

"Come here you little brat!" he snarled.

"No, go away!" Max yelled swiping at Xaioshin cutting his hand.

He roared in pain and backed off, then reached in again.

"You'll pay for that!" he yelled grabbing the front on Max's shirt and pulling him out and throwing him across the ground.

Shan opened his eyes and saw Xaioshin pick Max up and throw him against the ground.

"Let him go!" Shan shouted knocking Xaioshin away from Max and following it up with a spin kick.

Shan limped over to Max, picked him up and ran as fast as he could away from Xaioshin.

"THIS ISN'T OVER! I'LL FIND YOU AND THE CUB AND KILL YOU!" They heard him yell.

"Don't listen to him." Shan said to Max as he huddled against Shan's chest sobbing.

"Are going to be okay?" Shan asked when they stopped a short time later.

Max nodded and Shan took it as a good sign.

"What about you?" Max asked. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't know." Shan said truthfully.

Watching Xaioshin murder Siena had been hard on him, a part of him wanted to blame Max for it even though he knew it wasn't his fault.

"Try to get some rest okay." Shan said to Max.

Max slipped into an uneasy sleep while Shan stayed up to protect him.

When Max woke up the next morning Shan was gone and he thought for a split second it all been a dream.

"Shan!" He yelled getting up, a moment later Shan appeared and Max ran over to him and leaped into his arms crying.

"What's wrong?" Shan asked.

"I thought it had all been a dream that you hadn't rescued me from my dad, I was on my own." Max said. 

"It's okay, you're safe now." Shan said hugging Max.

"What now, are you going to take me back home?" Max asked.

"Yes." Shan said. "I'll take you home and hope for the best I suppose."

"What about My dad?" Max asked.

For that Shan didn't have an answer, he knew if he fought him again he'd be killed.

"I don't know." Shan said honestly.

*With Arizona, Dai and Kiro earlier*

Arizona suddenly stopped on the path and Dai nearly crashed into him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Quiet." Arizona whispered a second later they heard a roar.

"What was that?" Kiro asked his fur standing on end a little.

"I don't know." Dai answered. "I've never heard a roar like that before."

"It came from this direction." Arizona said turning off the path.

When they got closer they heard a yell.

"No, go away!"

"That sounded like Max." Dai said.

"MAX!" Arizona yelled back and ran off as fast as he could.

Shan heard a rustling sound and woke Max up.

"Come on we need to go." He whispered. "Someone's coming."

Max woke up and Shan picked him and ran off again just as Arizona, Dai and Kiro arrived.

"Max was here." Arizona said sniffing the air. "His scent is still strong, he's close."

"MAX!" he yelled.

Close by Shan heard the shout but kept going; he didn't want to wake Max back up either so he didn't say anything about it.

He waited until they were a good distance away before stopping to rest briefly.

He hurt from his fight with Xaioshin, he was fighting to stay wake so he rested against a tree.

"_It couldn't hurt to take a short nap." _He thought and closed his eyes.

The next thing he knew he was being awoken by Max.

"Wake up!" he said shaking the Mountain lion. 

"What's going on?" Shan asked slowly waking up.

"I couldn't wake you up, I thought you were dead." Max said.

"I'm fine." Shan said "I just need to rest." his eyes starting to close again.

"No, don't!" Max said. "Don't close your eyes again!"

"I'm sorry Max." Shan said. "I…just...need to…rest..."

With that Shan passed out against the tree, Max couldn't tell if he was alive or not.

"Shan! Shan wake up!" He pleaded. "Please, wake back up." he sobbed.

After a moment Max stopped and let out a shaky breath tears running down his face.

What was he going to do now?

Max sat next Shan hugging himself, wiping the tears off his face.

Dai and Arizona wouldn't want him to cry they'd want him to be strong, even Shan had told him not to be afraid.

*Later*

Shan groaned and woke up he still hurt but not as badly. He looked around and saw he wasn't in the forest anymore but in a hospital.

How did he get here anyway the last thing he remembered was telling Max not to be afraid, then passing out.

"_Max!"_ He thought franticly and started to sit up but pain exploded from his shoulder and he fell back down.

A nurse entered a second later having heard Shan yelp in pain.

"How did I get here?" Shan asked. "Where's Max?"

"Relax, you're son is okay, he's in the waiting room, he's quite a boy, if he hadn't gotten help when he did you could have died." She said.

"Alright…wait….my son?" Shan said.

"Yes, that tiger cub is your son isn't he?" the nurse asked. "That's what he told us."

"Um…yeah, sure." Shan said wondering what he was getting himself into now. "Can I see him?"

"Of course, I'll go get him." The nurse said and left.

A minute later she reappeared with Max.

"Hey Max." Shan said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Max replied.

"Can I ask what happened, we found numerous bruises and scratches on Max." The Nurse said.

"It wasn't me, if that's what you're asking." Shan said defensively. "We were attacked."

"We're on our way to the Valley of Peace."

Max was surprised at how easily Shan lied to the nurse.

"How long do I have to stay here?" Shan asked.

"Until you're able to move." The nurse said and Shan sat up gritting his teeth in pain.

"I guess I'm not going anywhere for awhile." He said.

"Why did you lie to her?" Max asked when the nurse left.

"Would you rather I told her the truth that I kidnapped you and am now protecting you from Xaioshin." Shan asked.

"Every good lie has an element of truth to it." Shan said to Max. "We really were attacked and we really are heading to the Valley of Peace."

"We shouldn't stay here for too long, Xaioshin could catch up with us." Shan added.

"But doubt he'll try anything in a public place." Shan said. "So, for right now, rest up."

So that's it for now, will Shan take Max in as a son? Stay tuned to find out later on.


	5. Close Encounters

Close encounters

I do not own Kung Fu Panda

* * *

About a day later Max was walking down a hallway in the hospital; when he saw a white tiger talking to a member of the staff. At first glance he thought it might be Dai or Kiro but the tiger turned and Max saw it was his father.

He panicked and was about to yell when someone grabbed him from behind, covering his mouth and pulled him into an empty room.

Max was scared until the person let go of him and he saw it was Shan.

"Stay quiet." Shan whispered to him and Max nodded his head.

He let go of Max and peaked out the window in the door and saw Xaioshin walking towards them.

"Down." He whispered motioning to Max and pulling out a Kunai Dagger, Max hid under the bed while Shan stayed crouched by the door.

They both heard Xaioshin's footsteps growing closer outside the door, Max whimpered a little and the footsteps stopped at the door.

Shan's breath caught in his chest as the handle began to turn. He grabbed on to it preventing it from opening.

It stopped for a moment and Shan let go thinking Xaioshin had left, then Xaioshin kick the door, it slammed Shan in the face knocking him over backwards, he slammed it shut again on his arm.

Xaioshin yelled and withdrew his arm from the door.

"I know you're in there!" Xaioshin yelled kicking at the door again.

"Max, go out the window!" Shan said holding the door shut.

Max crawled out from under the bed and went over to the window and saw they were on the second floor.

"I can't, we're too high." Max said looking down.

"Jump, you have to!" Shan said throwing his weight at the door.

"If you don't jump, he'll kill you!" Shan said.

Max looked back out the window, then back at Shan.

"Go!" he yelled as Xaioshin slammed against the door, it scared Max and he turned around and lost his balance over backwards falling out of the window.

"Shan!" he yelled, as he fell his claws caught a flag hanging outside the window, he hung there for a second, then fell to the ground landing on his arm with a crack.

As soon as Max disappeared Shan let go of the door and sprinted across the room as the door burst open behind him.

Shan leaped out the window and landed hard on the ground he rolled over and saw Max lying close by for a second he thought he might be dead from the fall. But a moment later Max started moving.

"You okay?" Shan asked.

"My arm hurts." Max said rolling over and sitting up holding his arm.

Shan stood up and saw Xaioshin.

"Come on, we gotta go." Shan said helping Max up.

"Into the crowd." Shan said pointing to a large crowd of people and running towards them.

Xaioshin chased them into the crowd; he stopped and looked around trying to see Shan or Max. He caught a glimpse of goldish brown fur and ran forward and grabbed the person but it wasn't Shan.

He growled and continued walking through the crowd looking for Shan and Max.

Shan paused and looked over his shoulder and saw Xaioshin looking around for him, keeping low Shan headed through the crowd with Max. He glanced back and saw Xaioshin looking directly at them. He started moving towards them shoving people out of the way to get to them.

Shan turned and ran through the crowd pushing people aside earning angry shouts from a few. But he didn't stop and kept running until he tripped on something and fell to the ground.

Xaioshin was on him in an instant kicking him in the chest.

"You can't escape me." He said kicking Shan and stomping on his chest.

Shan yelled out in pain as Xaioshin continued to kick him. Shan clawed his leg deeply, Xaioshin backed off and Shan got to his feet again panting. By the time Xaioshin had recovered Shan had disappeared back into the crowd again.

He snarled in frustration and went after them but Shan and Max had ducked out of the crowd and into an alleyway.

"We'll stay here for a bit." Shan said his breath wheezing.

"Are you okay?" Max asked.

"I've been beat up worse." Shan said. "I'll live, what about you, how are you doing?"

"My arm hurts a lot." Max said cradling his right arm.

"Let me see." Shan said taking a hold of Max's arm, making him wince in pain.

"I bet its broken." he said examining Max's arm.

"I told you, you couldn't escape me." Shan turned around and saw Xaioshin at the other end of the alley cutting off their escape.

"Come on seriously!?" Shan said. "Can't you just leave us alone?"

"You owe me!" Xaioshin said pointing at Max.

"If you think I'm gonna give you Max, you're insane." Shan said reaching behind him for his concealed Kunai Dagger.

Shan threw it so fast even Max (Who's standing kind of next to Shan) missed it, the next thing he knew Xaioshin howled in pain as the dagger buried itself in Xaioshin's hip and he dropped to the ground.

"Through here." Shan said breaking open a door to their right and going through the building and out a different exit.

"I think we lost him." Shan said after a reaching the edge of the town. "At least for now anyway."

"How's your arm?" He asked Max.

"It hurts." Max said.

"We'll stop soon to rest and I'll bandage your arm." Shan said.

* * *

That's the last we'll see of Xaioshin, at least for awhile anyway. But don't expect things to easier for Max and Shan just yet.


	6. Fault

Fault

Shan lets his and anger frustration toward Max get the better of him

I do not own Kung Fu Panda

* * *

Three hours after the hospital:

"There, that'll have to hold for now." Shan said finishing wrapping Max's arm as tightly as he could.

"Try not to move it around too much until we can get a proper splint on it."

"Okay." Max said.

* * *

-Later the same day-

As they walked Shan looked over at Max, totally unsure of what to do with him. His first instinct was to drop him off at an Orphanage somewhere. He didn't think he could take care of a child.

But would he be safe at an Orphanage? Somehow he doubted it.

Shan's temper was on edge because of their close encounter with Xaioshin at the hospital. The recent rainstorm hadn't helped by drenching them to the bone, to make things even better there was another one on the horizon.

Max was shivering a little, Shan wondered if he might have a cold.

"This is all your fault!" Shan said suddenly to Max.

"W..What?" Max said.

"This is your entire fault, if I'd never have met you Sienna would still be alive and I wouldn't be getting chased by a crazed murderer, psychopath!" Shan said.

"I should have let Xaioshin take you." He said. "I wish I'd never saved you!"

"But..." Max said.

"Get out of here! You're useless, all you've done is slow me down!" Shan shouted.

"You...you really...want me gone?" Max said tearing up. "I...I thought that..."

"You thought wrong!" Shan shouted.

Max froze in place looking Shan fearfully.

"I SAID GET OUTTA HERE!" Shan yelled raising his fist to strike Max.

Max stumbled over backwards falling into the mud, tears now running down his face, memories of his father flooding through him.

"_Oh no." _Shan thought as he realized what he'd just done and lowered his fist.

"Max...I'm..." He started to say.

"Go away!" Max said flinching backwards as Shan tried to approach him.

"I didn't mean to..." Shan tried to say but Max got up and ran off crying.

Shan stood there for a moment, then turned and walked away.

"_Good riddance, I didn't want to babysit that cub anymore anyway." _He thought as he walked.

The wind picked up and he shivered a little pulling his cloak tightly around him and his thought's briefly turned to Max.

"_Hope he's okay, he's afraid of storms."_

"_I don't care about him."_ he thought. _"He's made my life nothing but miserable."_

A crack of thunder sounded as another storm front moved in.

Shan found a place to take shelter and sat down but he couldn't shake the feeling he'd abandoned Max.

"_What if Xaioshin finds him?"_ He thought, then slipped into an uneasy sleep filled with Xaioshin hurting Max.

* * *

-With Max, alone-

Thunder cracked and Max yelled and ran forward terrified by the storm, lightning struck a tree nearby making it fall close to him. Max screamed even louder and slid to a stop in front of the burning tree and ran in the opposite direction.

He finally got to a tree and sank down against the trunk and cried holding his arm. Why didn't anyone want him? Why was everyone abandoning him? What did he do wrong?

Max eventually sobbing himself to sleep. When he woke up the storm had passed and the sun was shining.

What was he supposed to do now?

"Hey kid, what are you doing in our territory?" a wolf said stepping forward with a small pack.

"Go away please." Max said backing up against a tree.

"I don't think so kid." Cairo the leader said. "You're in our territory, you know what we do to trespassers?"

Max whimpered and backed up further.

* * *

Shan woke up around the same time and felt terrible for yelling at Max the way he had. He had try to convince himself during the night that Max wasn't his problem and he should just leave him.

His dreams had been filled with vivid images of the cub being hurt or molested by Xaioshin, eventually he couldn't stand it anymore

"_He doesn't have anyone else." _He thought standing up he went back to where he had shouted at him hoping to find a sign of where the cub had gone. But the rain had destroyed any tracks he could have followed.

"_Great." _ He thought. He thought back to what direction Max had run off in and went that way.

"_Where did you go Max?" he wondered. "I'd never forgive myself if the last thing I said to him was to call him useless."_

"Max!" He called out a moment later he heard wolves howling and barking in excitement.

"_Oh no." _He thought and ran even faster.

Shan burst into the area and saw some wolves had Max backed against a tree, he roared startling them.

"Stay away from my son!" Shan said standing in front of Max.

The wolves seemed eye up Shan trying to decide if they could take him down.

The wolves growled at Shan and he took a fighting stance.

"Don't." Shan warned.

"That little twerp wandered into our territory." Cairo said pointing at Max.

"He didn't know, he's just a child and not from around here." Shan said.

"Fine." Cairo said. "But if enters our territory again..." Cairo drew his finger across his neck and Max whimpered a little.

Shan watched the wolves leave, then turned to Max.

"Max." He said.

"You came back!" Max exclaimed leaping into Shan's arms.

"I'm so sorry." He said getting down to Max's level. "I didn't mean to shout at you like that, I let my anger and my grief get the best of me, it'll never happen again...I promise."

"Can you forgive me?"

To his surprise Max hugged him.

"It's okay." He said. "I forgive you."

"How can you forgive me so easily?" Shan asked surprised.

"It's just not in my nature to hold a grudge." Max said.

Shan laughed a little and let go of Max.

"You called me your son back there." Max said.

"Yeah, well don't read too much into it." Shan said trying to brush it off.

"I think you'd be a great as my dad." Max said nuzzling up to Shan

"You really think so?" Shan asked.

"Yeah." Max said. "You've done a good job of protecting me from my bio dad." Max said.

Shan sat there thinking about that, could he really be Max's dad? He and Sienna had tried to have cubs but didn't have any luck. So Sienna had mentioned adopting a cub instead.

"Hey Max, how'd you like it if I adopted you?" Shan asked after a bit.

"I'm sorry, it's a terrible idea." Shan said when Max remained quiet.

"I'd love you to be my dad." Max said hugging Shan tightly.

Shan stood up and picked Max up, he noticed his bandage was falling off.

"How's your arm?" he asked.

"It still kind of hurts." Max said.

"We'll get some help at the next village." Shan said.

* * *

-Later at a hotel-

Shan groaned in frustration, sweat rolled down his forehead. He and Max were sitting on a bed playing Mahjong. This was ridiculous he was a skilled fighter and he was losing a game of Mahjong to a nine year old cub…again.

"Give up yet?" Max said grinning.

"Yeah, fine I give up." Shan said putting his tiles down.

"I'm more of a Checkers guy anyway." He said getting off the bed "If we played that; I'd kick your butt."

"Oh yeah?" Max teased seeing Shan had his back to him.

"Yeah." Shan said, Max playfully pounced on Shan surprising him.

"Well alright then." Shan said and tackled him back.

The two play fought for awhile until Shan stopped.

"Not bad, you'd be a pretty decent fighter if you wanted." He said flopping down on his bed.

"I wish you were my dad." Max said.

"Have I told you about my family?" Shan asked Max who shook his head.

"I'll tell you then." Shan said.

* * *

Sorry, you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out about Shan's family. I didn't really want to post a super long chapter and that's not the only time we'll see Cairo either, he'll be back later on.


	7. Unhappy

Unhappy

I do not own Kung Fu Panda

Max's fear of Xaioshin starts getting the better of him…or does it?

* * *

"Well honestly there's not much to tell, I had a pretty typical childhood." Shan said. "I grew up in southeast China, My Mom and Dad were both good parents, they loved me a lot, nothing really unusual."

"It's not until I enrolled in a Kung Fu School that things got tense, my parents didn't want me to do it, they thought it was too dangerous, My dad got really angry at me, I think that's the only time he ever yelled at me."

"But when I started to show real talent for fighting they changed their attitude, they wanted me to join a Kung Fu Palace like the Jade Palace but that's not what I wanted to do I want to become a fighter and make money."

"My dad and I had a huge argument and I left, I didn't see them again until about six months later."

Shan stopped when he saw Max tearing up.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." Max said.

"You know you can tell me." Shan said.

"It's just...I haven't been feeling loved lately." Max said.

"What do you mean, aren't you happy with the Bushido-Akio's?" Shan asked.

"I am, but Arizona doesn't seem to have time for me anymore with Sierra, Dai has his missions he goes on all the time with the other Masters, it feels like they're all ignoring me." Max said tearing up again and sobbing a bit.

"I'm sorry Max." Shan said. "I promise I won't ignore you."

"Thanks, Shan." Max said.

"I think you can call me Dad if you want." Shan said.

"Okay." Max said. "Dad."

It made Shan happy to hear Max thought of him as his Dad. But what was he going to do? Max may not be happy with Bushido-Akio's, that didn't mean he could just take him…or did it?

"Max, are you sure about this?" Shan asked. "Dai or Arizona wouldn't willingly abandon you would they?"

* * *

*With Dai, Kiro and Arizona*

Dai slammed against a tree as Xaioshin slammed him back. Dai dropped to the ground groaning.

"That hurt." He commented, rolling over and standing up.

"You're never going to rescue Max." Xaioshin stated.

"Not if we have anything to say about it." Arizona said from behind Xaioshin, who turned around growling.

"Uh oh." Arizona said.

"Thanks, guys." Dai groaned. "What took you so long?"

"Oh you know, stuff." Kiro said twirling his staffs.

"Show off." Dai muttered under his breath and joined the fray, ducking under a punch from Xaioshin and swung his sword at him.

But Xaioshin backup and Dai missed earning him a punch to the side of the head, dropping him to the ground.

* * *

-Back with Max and Shan-

Max moaned and rolled over in his sleep.

"I'm coming for you, Maximus."

Max suddenly awoke with a yell looking around the room.

"Max, what's wrong?" Shan asked entering the room.

"Xaioshin was here." Max said. "I heard him; he said he was coming for me."

"There's no one here, it's just us." Shan said. "You just had a bad dream."

"No." Max insisted. "He was here, I know it."

"Max there's no one else….." Shan trailed off as he saw open window.

"Max did you leave your window open?" He asked and Max shook his head.

Shan went over to the window and looked out, he saw nothing but darkness.

"There's no one out there." He said to Max trying to reassure him and closed the window and locking it.

"You don't believe me?" Max said.

"I do, you want me to stay here for the night?" Shan asked him.

Max seemed to think about it for a moment.

"No I think you were right it, was just a dream." He said.

"Alright, I'm just down the hall if you change your mind." Shan said.

Max laid back down and eventually fell back asleep and dreamed about living with Shan as his son, it was really nice until…Max woke up because he felt pressure on his neck and woke to Xaioshin crouched over him an evil look in his eyes, choking him.

This time he screamed, loudly.

"DAD!"

A moment later Shan burst into the room.

"Max are you okay?" He asked seeing Max covered in sweat and panting.

"He's here!" Max exclaimed.

Shan looked around at the empty room. "Max, there's no one here it's just us." He said.

"No! My dad was here, he tried to choke me while I was sleeping!" Max insisted.

"He tried to choke you?" Shan said approaching Max to check and sure enough Max's neck was red.

"Okay, I believe you now." Shan said seeing the marks on Max's neck. Shan went over to the window and saw it was still locked and closed.

"Okay that's a little strange." He said. "I'll stay with you for the night just to be safe." Shan said.

"Okay." Max said.

Shan stayed up with Max all night waiting for something to happen, but nothing did, Max was able to sleep peacefully through the night.

"How'd you sleep?" Shan asked when he woke up.

"Fine." Max said and saw Shan looked really tired.

"You stayed up all night didn't you?" Max said.

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were safe." Shan said.

"Thanks." Max said.

"No problem." Shan said.

"Stay here I'll go get some breakfast." Shan said and left the room as Shan left though he saw a note pinned to the door that made him stop.

"I'm coming for you."

-Xaioshin

* * *

Dun dun dun dramatic ending! There's the end of that chapter. Stay tuned for the next.

I'm also thinking of making a part two of Guardian called (Maybe) 'Tiger Tears' let me know what you think.


	8. Out of Options

Out of options

I don't own Kung Fu Panda

* * *

Shan went back into the room with the note.

"What's that?" Max asked seeing the note. "Is it from my dad?"

Shan didn't want to bother Max with it and tossed it away

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." Shan said. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast."

They went to a nearby noodle shop and Shan ordered some dumplings for them.

"Dumplings for breakfast?" Max commented.

"The breakfast of champions." Shan taking one.

"You think I could meet your family?" Max asked as they ate.

"It's kind of in the opposite direction that we're going." Shan said. "I suppose it couldn't hurt, I'm sure they'd be happy to meet you."

Movement in the corner of Shan's eye caught his attention; he turned to see what it was. Nothing seemed strange to him so he turned back to his meal, He felt cold steal against the back his neck and froze.

"You look like you've got some money; give it to me and no one gets hurt."

"It's okay Max." Shan said seeing his worried expression.

"I said, give me your damn money!" the robber yelled when Shan didn't move.

"Ah you swore!" Max said covering his ears.

Shan elbowed the would be robber in the face making him stumble backward. He stood up and the robber charged at him with the knife, Shan simply twisted out of the way and grabbed his arm as he went by and flipped him over onto the table destroying it.

"Come on Max let's go." Shan said looking at the robber now out cold.

"Sorry about the mess." Shan said tossing the owner a few coins and they left.

-About a day or two later-

Shan was leaning against a tree, going through his money.

"Well, we're officially out of the cash I stole from Xaioshin." Shan said tossing the empty sack aside. "That leaves us with a grand total of…." Shan said digging in his pockets. "53 Yuan…" He said sounding disappointed.

"What are we going to do?" Max asked.

"Don't worry buddy, I'm sure we'll figure something out." Shan said putting a hand on Max's shoulder.

"I'm hungry." Max said.

"I know you are; I'm hungry too." Shan said.

"Maybe we can scrape up some cash at the next village." Shan said standing up.

"How?" Max asked.

"Don't worry about it." Shan replied lifting Max onto his shoulders making him laugh.

On the way to the village Shan came up with a plan and they stopped just outside the village when Shan saw a wanted poster with him on it.

"This is going to be a problem." He said taking the poster down.

"What is it?" Max asked.

"It's a wanted poster, with me on it." Shan said. "I've been branded a criminal by the Dragon Warrior and Jade Palace." He said anger creeping into his voice; he crumpled up the poster and threw it away.

"This is just perfect!" he said angrily and Max looked at him worriedly.

Shan saw this and calmed down.

"I'm not mad at you." he said assuring. "This is going to be a problem though; we'll have to disguise ourselves when we go into a village."

Shan looked up and saw a Dragon soaring above them.

"There's no way that's a good thing." He said.

* * *

-With the Heroes-

Dai paced the ground impatiently, rubbing the side of his head where Xaioshin had hit him. They'd been searching for Max for nearly a week and so far hadn't found anything, so Dai had decided to call for some reinforcements in the form of Max's Dragon friend Blaze.

"_What's taking so long? I thought that Dragon was supposed to be fast."_ He thought.

Dai heard Blaze land behind him and turned around.

"Finally!" he said. "I'm glad you're here, we use your help Blaze, Max was kidnapped by a Mountain Lion about a week ago. So far we've not been able to find them and we don't know his intentions."

"When I get my claws on that Lion I'm gonna…" Blaze said but Dai cut him off.

"No! I want him alive!" He said. "I've got a few questions I want to ask him."

"Scout ahead and see if you can find anything." Dai ordered. "Let us know if you find anything by roaring, trust me we'll hear it."

"Right." Blaze said and took off again.

"You sure it's a good idea bringing Blaze into this?" Tigress said.

"I'm sure." Dai said.

* * *

-Back with Shan and Max-

Shan waited until the Dragon was out of sight and reappeared from his hiding place with Max. Now dressed in a hooded cloak.

"Alright it's clear." Shan said looking at the sky.

"_A Dragon, now I've seen everything."_ Shan thought. _"I'm gonna have to find a way to take him down."_

"If that dragon becomes a problem I'm gonna kill him." Shan said.

That made Max nervous because his friend Blaze was a Dragon and Shan wanted to kill this one.

"What if he's friendly?" Max asked casually.

"What makes you think it's friendly?" Shan asked.

"I…um…" Max said trying to backtrack.

"Max, do you know that Dragon?" Shan asked.

"His name is Blaze; He's a friend of mine." Max said after a moment.

Shan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Is he dangerous?" he asked simply.

"No, he's friendly." Max said.

"Alright." Shan said putting the hood up on his cloak. "I'll figure something out."

Once in the village Shan checked out the wanted ads for a way to make some quick money, there weren't a lot of options. At least none he wanted to take Max with on.

"Max, how good of a fighter are you?" Shan asked out of curiosity.

"I'm okay." Max asked. "Arizona was teaching me, why?"

"No reason, maybe we could try stealing some food or something." Shan said.

"I don't want to steal, it's wrong." Max said.

"I don't think we have much of a choice." Shan said. "We barely have enough money to buy food, I can buy a little with what I've got on me, but it'll only last a few days maybe more if we're careful."

In the end Shan bought some supplies with the money he had and they left the village but he was still concerned about what to do about Blaze flying around above them, he was beginning to wonder if he should kill the Dragon before he could give their position away.

"Hey Max." Shan said when they stopped for a break.

"Yeah?" Max asked.

"Why don't you show me what you know about fighting?"

"Um, okay." Max asked standing up and going through a series of fighting moves that honestly impressed Shan.

"Not bad but you're stance is a little off." Shan said getting up and going over to Max and giving him a small shove, knocking him over. He helped him up and corrected Max's stance and gave him a push again this time Max only stumbled a little.

"See? With a better stance you're harder to knock off balance." Shan said.

"Now, hit me." Shan said holding out his hand.

"H…hit you?" Max said unsure.

"Yes, hit me I want to see how strong you are." Shan explained.

"O…okay." Max said getting ready to hit Shan.

Max hit Shan's palm as hard as he could, at the same time an arrow flew out of nowhere grazing Max's head, he spun to the ground.

"Max!" Shan yelled.

* * *

Don't worry he's fine, I hope you don't mind I threw Blaze in there, I thought it would be a good idea.

-Also dual update for today...hopefully so stay tuned.


	9. Scars

Scars

I don't own Kung Fu Panda

* * *

"Show yourself you coward!" Shan yelled.

Another arrow flew towards him and Shan barrel rolled to avoid it. The arrow embedded itself into a tree trunk behind him making Shan growl.

"You'll have to do better than that!" he yelled back scanning the tree line for any movement. Who was shooting at him, what did they want?

Shan remembered the wanted poster from earlier offering 20,000 Yuan for his capture. Shan growled in frustration as an arrow flew towards him again and he flipped into the air to avoid it. He caught a bit of movement and rushed forward dodging an arrow as he did.

"_Their aim is getting better." _Shan thought, he squinted as another arrow flew at him and deflected it with his palm and redirected it back at the shooter. He was rewarded a moment later with a yell and the sound of a body falling out of the tree.

Shan grinned and rushed forward and saw a masked feline lying on the ground an arrow sticking out of his chest; He didn't look like a normal criminal.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" Shan demanded grabbing the front of his shirt, pulling off his mask. The attacker died a moment later without saying anything leaving Shan even more frustrated than before.

He saw the attacker's weapon, a crossbow, sitting nearby and picked it up along with the arrows and went back to Max.

"Max?" He said rolling the cub over.

"My head hurts." Max said, for some reason Shan thought that comment was funny and laughed.

"I'm glad you're okay." He said. "But we should bandage that and clean you up just to be safe." Shan said.

They walked for about a half hour before coming across a big stream.

"You feel like going for a swim?" Shan asked.

"Yeah." Max said starting to get undressed.

"Wait…what are you…?" Max said when Shan grabbed his shoulder.

Before Max could finish Shan tossed him into the water.

"Hey! No fair, I wasn't ready!" Max said.

Shan only laughed at him from the shore, then jumped in himself.

The water was nice and refreshing Shan used it to wash the grime off from the last bunch of days.

After a moment Shan noticed Max had disappeared.

"Max?" he said turning on the spot. "Max?"

Fearing he might have drowned Shan got ready to dive under the water to find him when Max attacked him from behind jumping out of the water scaring the life out of him in the process.

"Jeez! Don't do that! You scared the crap out of me!" Shan said a bit too harshly, he backtracked a second later.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that." Shan said.

"It's okay." Max said jumping off Shan's back, back into the water.

"Where'd you learn something like that anyway, hiding under the water?" Shan asked.

"Dai taught me." Max said. "I can also do it while breathing through a reed."

"That's pretty clever, that might come in handy someday." Shan commented.

As they got dressed Shan noticed the scars on Max's body and felt a pain of guilt knowing at least a couple of them were his fault, particularly the marks on Max's neck from when Xaioshin tried to choke him in his sleep and the scar from the arrow earlier.

"I'm sorry." He said and Max looked at him.

"I don't think I ever apologized for what I did." Shan said. "Those scars are my fault."

"I've been a horrible Dad so far."

"None of that is your fault." Max said.

"I know but still, I feel really bad about it." Shan said. "I feel like there's more I could have done to prevent it."

"It's okay, I forgive you." Max said.

"I know you do." Shan said with a small smile.

"How's your arm?" Shan asked.

"It's getting better." Max said moving it around.

"It's a good thing you're young, you'll heal faster." Shan said.

"We're gonna have to get a change of clothing at the next village." Shan said looking at his shirt.

The problem was the only village nearby Shan didn't really want to go to because it was popular with slavers he didn't want to expose Max to that if he could help it.

"What's wrong?" Max asked seeing Shan worried expression.

"Nothing, it's fine." Shan said. "It's just the area we're going to is really dangerous, maybe we should just avoid it all together, but it'll add at least three days to our trip."

"Do we have to go there?" Max asked.

"No, but it's the closest place we can resupply." Shan said.

* * *

Kind of a shortish chapter but there it is. Stay tuned for the next


	10. Slave Trade

Slave trade

I don't own Kung Fu Panda

* * *

They reached the outskirts of the village within a few days like Shan had said but he wasn't sure if taking Max into the village was a good idea just yet, after about an hour of thinking about it Shan decided to risk it and head into the village with Max but kept the cub close to him just in case. They walked through the village until Shan found a vendor that sold the supplies they needed.

"Can I get some supplies?" Shan asked walking up to a stall with Max.

"Sure, how much you need." The stall owner asked.

"Only enough for a couple days." Shan replied. "And some spare bandages for the cub."

The Stall owner eyed Max carefully and said.

"That's a fine specimen you've got there, I could offer you a generous amount, if you were willing to part with him."

Shan bit back a growl in this region of China the slave trade was a big business, a White Tiger cub like Max could go for a lot of money.

"He's not a slave, he's my son and not for sale, so I'm going to forget I heard that." Shan said putting the money on the counter and taking the supplies.

"What's a slave?" Max asked a moment later surprising Shan.

"What?" Shan asked.

"A slave." Max said.

"A Slave is someone who is bought by someone else to serve them." Shan explained.

"Bought?" Max asked.

"Purchased like the way I bought the supplies." Shan said. "Then that person owns the slave and they have to do whatever the owner say, sometimes they're used for….personal reasons."

"How do you know all this?" Max asked.

"Let's just say I have experience with Slavers." Shan said bitterly. "Come on, the sooner we're out of here the happier I'll be." He added grabbing Max's hand.

The two left the village unaware they were being followed, when they stopped for the night someone hit Shan from behind knocking him out cold and grabbed Max ignoring his cries.

Not long after Shan's eyes cracked open to find Max gone.

"Max!" he yelled, standing up making his head hurt. "Max!" he yelled again.

Shan quietly swore to himself he never should have taken Max with him into that village.

Shan sprinted back to the village and to the stall he'd bought the supplies from.

"Where is he!?" Shan demanded shoving the owner against a wall, pinning him there.

"Who?" the owner said.

"Max, the white tiger cub, my son where is he!" Shan said.

"I don't know!" the stall owner said.

"Not good enough." Shan said making a fist.

"Alright alright, he was probably taken to the slave auction to be sold!"

"That's better." Shan said letting go. "Now, where is this auction?" He asked.

* * *

**Later**

Shan found the Slave auction at the edge of town hidden in an abandoned building (Shocker!). He knew right away he wasn't going in through the front door…unless.

He could buy his way in, it wouldn't be that hard. As Shan approached the door he saw the gorilla guards and had a second thought. Maybe sneaking in wasn't such a bad idea.

He'd have to sneak in, he had no other choice. Shan looked at himself; he could pass for a slave easily enough with his dirty, worn out clothing.

Shan snuck around to the back of the building and slipped inside unnoticed.

"Hey, watch it slave!" someone shouted when he bumped into him.

"Sorry." Shan said keeping his gaze down, the person scowled at him and walked off.

Shan suppressed a growl, badly. The sooner he found Max the better if he stayed here too long he was likely to kill one of these slavers.

Shan made his to the holding area, it made him sick all the slaves were being held in iron cages.

"Hey! How'd you get free?"

Shan turned around and saw a guard of some kind running up behind him.

"I'm not a slave!" he exclaimed putting his hands up.

"Yeah right." The guard said swinging at Shan with a club of some kind, Shan grabbed it and tore it out of the guards hand and hit him on the head knocking him to the floor.

"Where's Max?" he demanded pressing the club against the guard's neck.

"Who…?" the guard gasped.

"White tiger cub, about nine years old, where is he!?" Shan growled.

"I…don't know; I'm just a guard." The guard said. "Don't kill me!"

Shan growled "Not good enough." He said tightening his grip

"Okay, okay try the new arrivals." The guard said.

"That's more like it." Shan said standing back up and knocked the guard out cold and left.

"Max!" Shan called out searching the cages but not finding the cub.

"Max!" he called out again fearing he was too late Shan kept searching.

He searched the whole area but found no white tiger cub.

He growled in frustration and punched one of the empty cages.

"Dad!" Shan's ear twitched at the sound of Max's voice, he turned and looked around.

* * *

*With Max earlier*

Max was tossed into a cage; he heard the door slam behind him.

"You can't do this, let me go!" Max said.

"Shut up!" the panther said shoving Max, knocking him to the floor.

"Slaves don't talk back."

"I'm not a slave." Max said that earned him another slap.

"Do what you're told and this will be much less painful." The slave master said ominously, waving a baton in Max's face, Max whimpered and flinched backwards.

"That's better." The Panther said placing the baton back on his hip and left.

Max curled up on the floor and sobbed a little.

Where was Shan? He wondered. Was he dead?

He wouldn't just abandon him would he?

"Get up!" Max woke up the next morning to that panther shouting at him.

"I said get up!" he ordered again slapping Max.

Max cried out in pain, the Panther grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him out of the cage.

"Where are you taking me?" Max asked fearfully.

"You're lucky, you've got a buyer." The panther said shoving Max forward. "He's paid a handsome amount too."

"No! Let go of me!" Max said fighting the Panther, clawing his arm deeply and running off.

"You little brat!" The Panther hissed and chased after Max.

Max wove his way through the empty containers and cages finally he stopped and rested against a container.

"You'll have to do better than that." The Panther said appearing and drawing his baton.

Max gasped and ran off again, as he ran he heard a familiar growl and paused.

"Dad!" he yelled out.

* * *

*With Shan*

"Max!" Shan yelled running towards the sound.

After a moment Shan literally ran into Max knocking the cub over.

"He's going to kill me!" Max said franticly.

"What? Who?" Shan asked and the Panther appeared.

"That cub belongs to me hand him over." He said pointing at Max.

"No I don't." Max said back hiding behind Shan.

"I'm not giving you Max." Shan said going into a fighting stance.

You don't have a say in this slave!" the Panther said.

"I'm not a slave!" Shan said back surging forward attacking the panther.

"_Crap, he's stronger than I thought he'd be." _Shan thought as the Panther blocked Shan's attacks.

Shan caught the baton, twisted it and ripped it out of the panther's hand and hit him with it.

"You come in here to save one cub? Who are you, some kind of hero?" The Panther said.

"No." Shan said and kicked the Panther knocking him out.

"Max! Let's go!" he said.

Shan had no desire to stay here any longer than necessary.

"Wait, what about the others?" Max asked.

"There's nothing I can do for them, I'm sorry Max." Shan said as they ran out of the building punching a guard as they ran.

After a good distance they stopped.

"You alright? Did they hurt you?" Shan asked looking at Max.

"No I'm fine." Max said.

"You sure?" he asked and Max nodded.

"Alright, climb on my back; we need to keep moving I don't think we've seen the last of that Panther."

* * *

"Do you realize how much money we lost? Because of your incompetence we lost that tiger cub."

"I'm sorry sir." Jiao said.

"Save it!" the person yelled.

"I want you to go out and find that cub and bring him back, unless you want to serve yourself as a replacement."

"No sir, I'll find him." Jiao said standing up and leaving the room.

* * *

Oh boy, new enemies for Shan to deal with, what will happen? Can he continue to keep Max safe?


	11. Sense of Normalcy

Sense of Normalcy

I don't own Kung Fu Panda

After all the running and fighting I thought Shan and Max could use a chance to relax for awhile (Story picks of about a week after Slave Trade) However lowering your guard even for a moment can be dangerous.

I'm so sorry this took so long I had other projects I'm working on.

* * *

"So Max what do you what to do today?" Shan asked while lying in the sun.

They had reached a Village near where Shan's parents lives and were resting for the first time in several days.

"We could play hide and seek." Max suggested.

"Nah we did that yesterday." Shan said sitting up.

"Tag?" Max asked.

"You cheated last time." Shan said.

"I did not." Max retorted.

"Yeah you did." Shan stated.

"I did not." Max said.

"Did to...Wait a second." Shan said tailing off mid-sentence thinking he'd heard something.

"What is it? Is it my dad?" Max asked.

"No, I don't think so, just stay put while I take a look." Shan said getting up.

Shan followed the sound to a lake where he found some kids playing in the water a good portion of them were Mountain Lion cubs meaning he was getting close to home.

Shan suddenly had a thought and went back for Max.

"You want to go swimming?" he asked. "There's a lake nearby that kids like to swim in."

"Okay." Max said.

"Mind if we join you?" Shan asked entering the clearing with Max.

"Your kinda funny looking for a tiger." one boy said coming over to Shan and Max.

"Ryker! Be nice." An older Mountain Lion probably the cubs mother said.

"Yes mother." Ryker said

"What's your name sweetie?" she asked Max.

"Max." he replied a little nervous.

"Max is my...adopted son." Shan said.

Shan watched Max run off with the other cubs and sat against a tree, before long a Lioness about his age approached him and asked him about Max.

"He's nine." Shan replied. Shan gave her a quick background on Max without going to deep into detail about it.

"We're headed to my Parents house just outside the village." He said.

"But Max's birth father keeps chasing us to try and get his revenge against Max."

"Why would someone want to hurt him?" she asked.

"I have no idea." Shan said. "I drove a dagger into his hip last time I saw him, maybe he wised up and backed off."

Shan watched Max playing and caught some movement in the shadows.

"_Oh no, not here, not now we were just starting to relax."_ he thought standing up.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I don't know." Shan said.

He circled around the lake staying hidden expecting to find Xaioshin but found a certain Panther instead.

"You!" he said loudly making Jiao jump and spin around.

The two stared at each other for a moment until Shan lunged at Jiao, roaring. He tackled him to the ground Jiao got his foot under Shan and flipped him over his head, into a tree, he hit the tree upside down.

Shan rolled to avoid a kick and got to his feet as Jiao drew his baton and spun it in his hand.

"That cub is worth a lot of money to my boss." He said. "Hand him over."

"I would rather die." Shan growled.

"That, can be arranged." Jiao said charging forward with a yell.

By now the roars and sounds of fighting had drawn attention back at the lake and everyone had stopped what they were doing.

Shan came crashing through the trees, landing on his back, A moment later Jiao appeared jumping into the air. Shan rolled to avoid being impaled by his Baton and got to his feet.

"That cub is mine." Jiao snarled attacking Shan again, swinging the baton at Shan's head.

Shan caught it in his hand and twisted Jiao's arm making him yell and drop to his knees. Shan drove his knee into Jiao's chin knocking him over backwards onto the ground.

Shan stood over the injured Panther and drew his dagger. He was going to kill him until he felt a tug on his tail. He turned around and saw Max standing behind him.

"Don't." Max said.

"Do you know who this is? What he plans to do with you?" Shan said indicating to Jiao.

"That doesn't make it right." Max said. "You kill him, your no better than he is."

Shan looked back at Jiao lying on the ground panting, waiting for Shan to kill him.

He looked at the injured Panther and seemed to think about it for awhile.

"Remember, I let you live." Shan said slowly, putting the dagger away.

"Come on Max, we'd better get going." Shan said.

They left the lake and passed through the village, briefly stopping for a snack.

"My parents live just up ahead." Shan said to Max. "You excited?"

"You bet!" Max said.

"Alright, it should be right up ahead." Shan said.

They reached a house at the edge of the village, Shan walked up to the door and knocked, a moment later it was answered by an older Mountain Lion.

"Hey, Dad." Shan said.

* * *

I should point out Jiao isn't a bad person he's just ordered to do bad things.

Shan and Jiao are also about the same age, and both will appear in my KFP finale stories. Guardian part two: Tiger Tears, Saber: Uprising and Shadow Tiger: Next Gen.


	12. Too Close

Too close

I don't own Kung Fu Panda

"Hey, Dad." Shan said when his father answered the door.

"Shanshi." Shan's father said smiling "It's good to see you." he said giving him a hug.

"Who's this?" he asked seeing Max standing behind Shan.

"My son Max." Shan said and his father raised an eyebrow. "Adopted Son." Shan added quickly.

"Hi." Max said shyly

"Why don't you come in, I just started Dinner." Shan's father said.

"Thanks, I'm starving." Shan said.

After Dinner and Max was asleep Shan did his best to explain their situation to his Father.

"Max is a good kid, I'm proud of you for taking care of him, I just hope you know what you're doing." Shan's father said after Shan had finished.

"Don't worry everything will be fine." Shan said. "I know what I'm doing, keeping Max safe is all that matters right now."

His father smiled a bit and said. "I think you'll make a good father to Max."

A moment later there was a knock on the door.

"You expecting company?" Shan asked.

"No." Shan's father said. "Go with Max."

Shan got up and went into Max's room and closed the door, he pressed his head against the door and heard voices talking.

"_Dragon Warrior, to what do I owe this honor."_ he heard his father say opening the door and seeing Dai standing on the threshold with Kiro and Arizona.

"_We're tracking a criminal, we believe he's hiding in somewhere in this Village."_ Dai said entering the house, looking around.

"_There's no one here, I assure you."_ Shan's father said. _"It's just me and my wife."_

"_I'd like to take a look around anyway." _Dai said. _"__If you don't mind."_

Shan heard footsteps approaching the room.

"_That's my son's room." _Shan's father said.

"_I thought you said it was just you and your wife."_ Arizona said and the door began to open, Shan vaulted over the bed and hid next to it out of sight pulling out his dagger just in case.

Light flooded the room as the door opened, Shan swore to him self as he realized he'd left Max on the bed.

"See, there's no one in here it's just my son, who's sleeping." Shan's father said. "I'd appreciate it if you let him be."

Dai entered the room and looked around a bit, then left.

Shan relaxed a bit when the door closed again.

"_That was way too close." _He thought standing up and snuck out into the hallway. He saw Dai, Kiro and a wolf, the same one he'd fought when getting Max.

"Thanks for you cooperation." Dai said. "Let us know if you see anything."

"I will." Shan's father said.

"What have you gotten you're self mixed up in _this_ time?" Shan's father said when Shan appeared from the hallway.

"Wait...I don't want to know, it's probably better that I don't." he said before Shan could say anything. "I just hope you get it cleared up before it's too late, for Max's sake."

"I'm off to bed." Shan's father said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'm gonna stay up for awhile, I've got some thinking to do." Shan said settling on the sofa.

Shan eventually drifted off to sleep but it was anything but peaceful he saw Max, he looked alright, then Xaioshin appeared from nowhere grabbing Max from behind.

"Let go of him!" Shan yelled

"I don't think so." Xaioshin said placing a sword to Max's neck, backing away from Shan.

"Dad help!" Max cried as Xaioshin pulled him away. Shan thought about throwing his dagger at Xaioshin but he didn't want to risk hitting Max.

"Just let him go." Shan said.

"Oh I intend to..." Xaioshin said, suddenly the tip of his sword appeared in Max's chest, the cub's eye's widened with shock, Xaioshin dropped him to the ground.

"No!" Shan yelled and rushed forward just as he got to Xaioshin he woke back up at home on the sofa, panting.

He laid there for a moment, then got up and checked on Max, he seemed fine he was sleeping soundly.

After a moment Max woke up and saw him standing in the door way.

"Dad?" he asked worried.

"It's all right I'm just checking on you, go back to sleep." Shan said.

Are we going to live here?" Max asked.

The question caught Shan completely off guard.

"Don't you want to go home?" Shan asked.

"Yes, but..." Max said nervously.

"Listen I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want to." Shan said. "Go back to sleep, I'll see you in the morning."

The next morning Shan was still thinking about Max's answer. He let out a heavy sigh and got up and saw Max and his father had already woken up and was having breakfast.

"You seemed tired so we let you sleep a little." Shan's father said.

"It's okay." Shan said yawning. "I needed the rest anyway."

"Max, you ready to go?" Shan asked.

"We're leaving?" Max said.

"Well, I guess we could hang around for another day or two." Shan said.

"I need to go into the village to get more supplies anyway." He added standing up.

Once in the Village Shan went around buying more supplies with the money his father had given him

"Sorry." he said dumping into another Mountain Lion

"Oh..hey Kiara." Shan said as he noticed who it was.

"Can I go play with the other cubs?" Max asked.

"Yeah sure." Shan said and Max took off.

"Just don't wonder too far!" he called after the cub.

"I won't!" Max called back.

Kiara noticed the pack by Shan's feet. "Are you leaving then?" she asked.

"Yeah, but not for a day or two, it's not safe for us to stay in one place for too long." Shan said.

"That doesn't sound like much of a life for Max." Kiara said.

"I know and it's not." Shan agreed. "But we don't have much choice thanks to Xaioshin, although I haven't seen him in awhile, maybe he gave up after I buried a knife into his hip."

Not too far away Xaioshin was closing in on the village, he'd followed Dai, Kiro and Arizona here thinking they'd lead him straight to Max and Shan and he was right.

He saw Max playing with a group of other cubs and grinned evilly.

Back in the village Shan had a bad feeling and rushed off with Kiara towards where Max was playing, it was compounded a moment later when all the other cubs ran into the village minus Max.

"No, you can't be here!" Max said seeing Xaioshin "My dad killed you!"

Max pulled out a small knife Shan had given him and Xaioshin laughed at him.

"What are you gonna do? Kill me? You've always been too weak, you don't have the guts to do it." Xaioshin said coming over to Max and kneeling in front of him

"Well, here I am what are you waiting for?"

"Go ahead, do it!" Xaioshin shouted "Kill me, get your revenge!"

"I...I can't." Max said dropping the knife.

"Just as I thought...pathetic." Xaioshin said raising his fist to hit Max who whimpered and back up but something caught it.

"What the...?" Xaioshin said said turning around.

"Leave my son alone." Shan said twisting Xaioshin's arm and driving his knee into his chin and landing a right hook to his temple.

"Dad!" Max said rushing to Shan.

"Are you okay?" He didn't hurt you did he?" Shan asked.

"No I'm fine." Max said.

Drawn by the yelling Dai had seen almost the entire exchange between Max and Xaioshin. He saw how much Shan seem to care about him and started having second thoughts.

He had been neglecting Max a lot lately. His job as Dragon Warrior kept him busy all the time, his last attempt to take Max with hadn't ended well. He had been knocked out after falling into a river and Max was left on his own until he woke up almost four days later.

He watched them for a moment, he seemed happy with Shan then left thinking.

Would Max be better off with Shan?

That is the end of that Chapter, you think Shan should keep Max or take him back to the Bushido-Akio's?


	13. Villian verses Villian

Villain verses Villain

I don't own Kung Fu Panda

* * *

Xaioshin had managed to make his escape while everyone one was distracted, once he was a good distance away he cursed to himself.

"Damn it! If it wasn't for that stupid Mountain Lion Max would be mine, I could finally be rid of that pest, he never should have been born."

Nearby Jiao heard Xaioshin talking and followed the sound and found Xaioshin.

"_Talking to himself, this guy is nuts."_ he thought.

"Before I kill him, I'm gonna make him wish he'd never been born!" Xaioshin said.

That didn't sit too well with Jiao, his mind flashed back to when he was younger.

_-flashback-_

_A slave master approached him with a whip, he'd just been caught stealing._

"_I'm gonna make you wish you'd never been born boy." he said raising the whip._

_Jiao cried out in pain as the whip cut into his back._

"_I'll teach you not to steal!" the slave master shouted and whipped him again, Jiao screamed again. Finally it stopped and Jiao was dumped into a cell._

"_You belong to me now." he said into Jiao's ear as he lay on the floor._

_-end flashback-_

He shook the memory from his head he had to focus, he needed Max alive and unharmed for his boss.

"Maximus is mine." he said stepping into view. "Leave him alone."

"And _who _are you?" Xaioshin said turning around and seeing the panther. "Another of Max's friends I bet."

"It doesn't matter, I need Max unharmed for my boss that's all I care about." Jiao said taking a relaxed fighting stance.

"You think is wise boy?" Xaioshin said drawing a sword. "I'm an assassin, I've killed more people then you can count."

Jiao smirked drawing his batons "Let's go then." he taunted.

"You insolent fool!" Xaioshin said and charged at Jiao. The Panther was quick and blocked the sword with his batons the two struggled until Jiao stomped on his foot making him yell and back up.

Xaioshin snarled at him and swung his sword at his neck, Jiao leaned back and it missed slicing a bit of fur off.

"Not bad." Jiao said rubbing his neck.

He charged at Xaioshin swinging his baton at his head. Xaioshin caught it on his sword, Jiao hit him in the gut with the other one, then under the chin making him stumble backwards.

"Max is mine." Jiao said. "Leave him alone."

"Never! That little pest doesn't deserve to live." Xaioshin said.

"Yes he does!" Jiao exclaimed, blocking the sword again.

"Your never gonna get Max!" Jiao said pushing Xaioshin backwards, swinging a baton at him hitting the side of his head.

Xaioshin snarled at Jiao holding the side of his head. He weighed his chances and said.

"This isn't over boy!" Then ran off leaving Jiao standing there panting

A moment later Shan appeared.

"You again!" He said attacking Jiao.

"Wait a minute!" Jiao yelled whirling around dropping his weapons, dodging under Shan's punch

"Xaioshin was just here!" He said

"Why would I believe _anything _you have to say!" Shan said kicking Jiao on the leg sending him to the ground.

"You've done nothing but try to kidnap or hurt Max." Shan said kicking Jiao back into a tree trunk, pinning him there.

"I'm not going to let you make Max a slave." he said raising his fist.

"I'm a slave too!" Jiao yelled finally

"What?" Shan asked stunned stopping mid strike, letting go of him

"It's true." Jiao said sinking to his knees.

"I may have it better then the others; but I'm still just a slave." he said

"My master said if I don't return with Max I'll take his place, my life will be forfeited."

"So go ahead, kill me! It'll be better then going back empty handed."

"Come on!" Jiao yelled. "Do it!"

Shan looked at the panther in front of him, he saw the faded scars running across his face. What had they done to him?

"Your a slave?" Shan questioned looking at the Panther.

"Yes." Jiao said. "It was my job hunt down runaway slaves and bring them back."

"Most of them were kids about Max's age, I never stopped to think what was happening to them when I brought them back."

"I'm not gonna kill you." Shan said finally. "You were acting under orders, against your will."

"What do I do? I can't go back there with out Max!" Jiao said.

"You could run." Shan said. "Or you could stay and help protect Max."

"You would really trust me with that?" Jiao questioned

"No, but I do need help." Shan said. "I can't protect Max on my own."

"If my master finds out, he'll kill me." Jiao said.

"If Xaioshin gets to max _he'll _be killed." Shan countered.

"If I help protect Max could you help me take down my master?" Jiao said standing up.

"I guess so." Shan said. "But Max comes first."

"Agreed." Jiao said, they ran back to the house.

"What's he doing here?" Kiara asked seeing Jiao.

"It's...complicated." Shan said. "But he's agreed to help us."

"I may not be the nicest guy but, what Xaioshin and my master want to do to Max is just wrong." Jiao said.

"He has to be stopped." Shan said "Once and for all, if we fail we'll all have to go into hiding. I know the Dragon Warrior in in the area, I'm gonna try and talk to him, see if I can work out a deal if this goes south."

"You think that's a good idea?" Jiao asked.

"I'm not sure." Shan said. "I guess we'll just have to wait and find out when we get to that point."

"We should all get some rest, it's getting kinda late." Kiara said.

"Where's Max?" Shan asked standing up from the table.

"He's in his room, sleeping last time I saw." Kiara said.

Shan left the kitchen and went to check on Max, he cracked the door open and saw Max lying in bed.

"Dad?" he mumbled having just woken up.

"Yeah." Shan said "It's me."

He still wasn't used to this 'Dad' thing.

"Listen buddy we might have to leave soon." Shan said.

"But I like it here." Max protested.

"I know Max, but it's not safe." Shan said. "Xaioshin is around here looking for you, it's only a matter of time until he finds us again."

"How'd he find us?" Max asked.

That was a very good question how _had_ Xaioshin found them so quickly?

* * *

One final showdown against Xaioshin and we're done and off to Tiger Tears the next in my finale series.


End file.
